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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Cakebread Cellars makes Chardonnay

Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley 2010 Chardonnay,$30.59-$35.99,89points, has a light ginger-ale color (Finishes with a bit of ginger), the aroma is apple, lemon and lime, and carries over to the palate. This Chardonnay reminds me of a more medium-bodied Sauvignon Blanc (Crisp and refreshing) with only hints of oak; what you have here is the delicious factor.Cakebread Cellars Carneros Napa Valley Reserve 2007 Chardonnay,$46.74-$54.99,91 points, is very similar to the 2010 Chardonnay, but add a creamy texture, vanilla hints, and a longer, more ginger-spice on the finish, and voila, the same wine.Both wines paired well with battered scallops and shark steaks.Though I liked these wines, the QPR is problematic.Index-of-reviewed-wines

4 comments:

Ben, the understanding I have is that vanilla is a result of the oak that the wine is aged in, you might find spice, caramel, butterscotch, tobacco, coffee, chocolate, and other flavors, with French oak a bit different; it seems as though Chardonnay is about the best wine for the oak-treatment, but there is unoaked Chards which have a more Sauvignon flavor. Ethan is better at picking these things out than I am, but even if you are talking about Slovakian oak, there is a "Black hole" of information on this subject. I like just hint of these flavors, and I don't want any of them to over whelm the wine (Grape) itself.

Oh, I'm sorry Ben, I forgot you first question :-0I wouldn't say that either of these wines struck me as "bone dry", but were typically dry, a balance of warm weather hints of honey on the 2007 and less sweet with the 2010.